


if it weren't this dark you'd see how red my face has gone

by charonismyfriend



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Swearing, very minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28068174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charonismyfriend/pseuds/charonismyfriend
Summary: Changkyun really needs Jooheon to be his boyfriend for the New Year's party at the office so he invites him, accidentally not telling his friend that they were supposed to be dating. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon, minor Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu - Relationship, minor Lee Minhyuk/Yoo Kihyun - Relationship
Kudos: 64





	1. - I -

**Author's Note:**

> This is straight-up fake/pretend relationship at the New Year's party which is extremely self-indulgeous but we're not having any parties this year so I hope this fic will bring you the festive spirit. Obviously the fic isn't set at the current year, haha
> 
> I hope you enjoy! :)

Changkyun suspected that participating in the conversation about the New Year’s party was dangerous. It was dangerous even being close to people who were talking about it. But his lunch break was almost over and he spent the most half of it in the queue at the nearby cafe because it was the only place selling the most amazing mint doughnuts and he really wanted one. So, there was no choice but to eat his minty treasure while trying to blend in with the wall. 

"I wonder if I’m allowed to host any contests," said Minhyk dreamily. "I really want to." And then, not too subtly eyeing Kihyun, who was sitting nearby, he added "Maybe a kissing competition."

"Kissing competition? But that doesn't make any sense," interrupted his flow of thoughts Hyungwon. "How do you ever measure that?"

Kihyun remained silent, scooping the remains of his salad. Changkyun breathed out a little, hoping the topic was done when suddenly Minhyuk addressed him.

"Changyun, will your boyfriend come to the party?"

His first instinct was to scream, which he did, only internally. His second instinct was to laugh and explain that all of this was a misunderstanding. He opted for politely smiling.

"I don't know, he might be working. I'll make sure to ask him," Changkyun was desperately hoping his voice didn't shake too much to be noticeable. He was definitely shaking himself. 

The topic of the conversation did switch after that and it was the perfect moment to remove himself from the danger zone. 

Changkyun crumbled the doughnut paper packet, tossing it into the trash can, and escaped from the kitchen just slow enough not to be suspicious. He was afraid that his nerves would take over so he headed to the bathroom to calm down. 

The bathroom was slightly colder than the rest of the office, he noted, staring into his own reflection in the mirror, contemplating how he got so deep into the vast ocean of lies. Oh, yeah, that was his own fucking fault. 

The first time the subject of any relationship was brought up after about a month of working at the magazine. Minhyuk, as he usually did, was running his mouth discussing everyone at their own writing department, the adjacent designer's department, and occasionally the rest of the publication's office, spreading gossip and lurking for new juicy details. 

"I heard that Serim from the sales department proposed to his partner last week and they're going to New Zealand for their honeymoon. I'm so happy for them," Minhyuk sighed, eyes sparkling.

"I wish I could go to New Zealand," sadly added Hyungwon. 

"I think it doesn't matter where you go. I'd stay in Korea when I get married and save money from the wedding. Those things are expensive," said Kihyun. 

"You're no fun, Hyunnie," whined Minhyuk and playfully shoved his hand to which Kihyun rolled his eyes, yet still smiled. "Changkyun," started Minhyuk, addressing him suddenly, "I never asked, do you have a special someone?"

Changkyun knew he should've just said no and went on with his life. He heard that Minhyuk wasn't malicious about his rumors. He was annoying at best but mostly he was just making lighthearted jokes. If he knew Changkyun was single, he wouldn't give him a hard time. Maybe he'd start trying to organize dates for him, just as he did for Hyungwon. 

But no, apparently Changkyun wanted to be more interesting than he actually was, so he said yes, he did have a partner. He refused to give out any details, pretending that he didn't "kiss and tell" when in reality his brain was melting trying to create an image of his partner. Is it a woman? Is it a man? Changkyung didn't say anything, prompting Minkyuk to almost die from curiosity.

The second, and probably, most significant time the topic was brought up, it happened about three months ago – after half a year of him working as a writer. It was Monday morning, everyone coming in half-asleep, Changkyun included, when a figure appeared near his desk. Changkyun rubbed his eyes, raising his gaze and realized it was Minhyuk. 

He'd already developed a knee-jerk reaction to Lee Minhyuk being in his vicinity, because it had always ended badly for him. Still, he smiled and greeted his colleague. 

"Nice Instagram photo," Minhyuk beamed with a smile. "I see you had a great weekend with your boyfriend" 

Changkyun stared at him for a few seconds, processing the information and trying to remember when he got himself a boyfriend that even he didn't know about. He desperately tried to remember the picture he posted on his Instagram, and then realized that it was a photo of him and his friend - and roommate - Jooheon. Wait, so Minhyuk thought…

"I won't tell anyone… Because I already did," at least he tried to sound a little bit guilty. "But almost everyone is already following you, so it's not like I leaked your secret or anything. And you have to remember that I was dying to know what your partner looked like since you didn't give me any details the last time I asked you!" Minhyuk was unstoppable in his speech, and without a pause continued. "And when I saw the picture I squealed and I couldn't pretend I didn't see it and I showed it to Kihyun and he liked it already! Can you believe it that he saw it before me and didn't tell me anything? Anyway, if you were afraid we'd judge you because it's a guy you shouldn't have worried, Kyunnie, you know that more than a half of our department is gay. But I didn't tell you that," he caught himself, realizing he revealed a bit too much and Changkyun took his opportunity to stop the other man from giving him a headache.

"It's okay," he sighed. "I just wasn't ready." No, wait, that wasn't what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to explain that Jooheon was his friend, his best friend, actually, and this was all a misunderstanding. They weren't dating. 

But no other words came out. 

"I'm so happy for you," Minhyuk squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, a huge warm smile on his face.

This is how Jooheon became his boyfriend. Without actually being his boyfriend. And his plan was working out great, occasionally he posted photos of them two doing various activities, since they hang out together all the time anyway, and no one was questioning the matter of their relationship. 

Up until now.

Up until he had to bring his boyfriend to the New Year's party at the office. 

_Fuck._

***

Changkyun was so occupied with finding a proper way to explain this to Jooheon that he didn't get much work done after lunch. Hyunwoo, being the best team leader there is, took a pity on him and let him go earlier. Changkyun thanked him, turning off his computer, only to realize that now the preparation time for his awkward speech was shortened. 

He considered going to the cafe to postpone the moment, but eventually decided to go straight home. It's not like he did anything wrong, right? It's not like he used his friend's existence in his life as a decoy for office rumors. And after all, it was all Minyuk's fault. Yeah, that should be his course of action - to push all blame onto his colleague. 

When Changkyun opened the door to their apartment, he was greeted by tasty smells coming from the fully lit kitchen. They both knew Jooheon wasn't the best cook but Changkyun was even worse, so they mostly survived on instant ramen that was hard to fuck up. And since Changkyun had a more traditional 9-to-5, and Jooheon was mostly busy at night, making music and performing at clubs, the older man cooked dinner way more often. 

"Kyunnie, you're home," Jooheon's face lit up and he immediately hugged Changkyun, ruffling up his hair. It was amazing how fast Jooheon's presence and his hugs could calm Changkyun down. 

Terrifying thoughts turned into light buzz at the back of his head, not going away completely, but no longer taking over. 

"How was work today?"

Changkyun sighed first, instead of answering, and proceeded to wash his hands in the kitchen sink to occupy himself for a second.

"It's okay," and before his mouth could catch up with his head he blurted out "We were discussing the New Year's party" 

"Oh, cool," Jooheon smiled and returned to the pot he had boiling on the stove. "So, when are you going out to have fun without me?" he asked, with no real heat behind his words, still continuing to smile. Changkyun's hands itched to pinch Jooheon's dimples. 

"Actually…" he hesitated, "You're also kind of invited."

"Really?" Jooheon fully turned to him. 

"Yeah. We can bring one more person with us. I thought you'd want to eat fancy food. Administration goes all out on every holiday. Do you remember those leftovers I brought from the anniversary party?"

"Yeah…" Jooheon smiled at the memory. Those were three days of the most exquisite cuisine Changkyun ever had the chance to try. 

"So," Changkyun cleared his throat. "Do you wanna come?"

"Sure, why not," shrugged Jooheon, turning off the stove and starting to assemble their dinner. 

Changyun exhaled the breath he didn't know he held and patted himself on the back for being a genius. Or an idiot. He wasn't sure which one yet. It fully depended on surviving the party while pretending to be dating Jooheon, who he wasn't actually dating, but his colleagues didn't know that, so they were sort of dating, but Jooheon didn't know that, because Changkyun decided to leave out this piece of information. 

This situation was of course very easy and it didn't cripple Changkyun's brain just thinking about the mental hoops he would have to jump through the whole party. 

But Changkyun apparently didn't like easy situations. He liked to live his life to the fullest, getting the most complex emotional breakdowns. The breakdown he was about to have was connected to the small, insignificant, teeny-weeny fact that he was excruciatingly in love with Jooheon for the past year.


	2. - II -

A week later, the morning of the party day met Changkyun with bright winter sun. He lazily stretched in his bed, producing grunting noises and rolled out, scratching his stomach through the t-shirt. 

In order to get to the bathroom he had to get through the living room – a task simple in theory but proven to be hard once Changkyun saw the landscape of their sofa. 

Jooheon had a performance last night at the club and as he usually did after such nights out he had too little energy to get to his own bed. This resulted in him falling asleep on the couch in various stages of being undressed, depending on the amount of clothes he wore. 

Yesterday was a medium level hardness, as seen by Jooheon still remaining in his shirt and jacket but having no trousers. 

Changkyun found them lying about a meter away from the couch. Jooheon was very much out for the time being so Changkyun allowed himself to linger on the sleeping body for a few seconds. His eyes almost glued themselves to Jooheon's thighs immediately. A fleeting thought of being crushed by those thighs – in a good way – made it out of his subconsciousness but it scared him to even consider going down that path so he quickly headed to the bathroom to remove himself from the sinful way of thinking. 

The only way to keep their friendship was to not even consider Jooheon as a romantic partner and to never, ever think about such attributes as his blinding smile, his golden retriever personality or those damn thighs. Changkyun didn't spend the last year of his life meticulously shaping himself into a better friend and an adequate roommate to throw it all out the window over some horny thoughts. He was better than that.

Changkyun took a quick shower, prepared himself a couple of sandwiches to eat for breakfast and started getting ready for work. They had to come into the office for a few hours before going back to change for the party but Changkyun was glad he had at least this moment of familiarity before he had to have a performance of his own. 

Jooheon still hadn't woken up when his diligent roommate was ready to leave so Changkyun took his phone and added an alarm for 11 o'clock. He knew Jooheon hated waking up late even when he had gigs the previous night. 

Sometimes he wondered if it was an ordinary thing for roommates to know almost – almost – everything about each other and be as close as they were but he honestly didn't care enough to give this idea a proper shape. 

***

Fresh winter air lingered on his clothes as Changkyun entered the magazine's office, already heavily decorated. Despite the present abundance of festive paraphernalia, Hyunwoo was up on a ladder, fastening one more garland to the wall, as Minhyuk was running around him and directing the decorating process according to his own vision. 

Changyun suspected that Minhyuk had already been close to pushing down the ladder with Hyunwoo on it, if Kihyun's tense face was any indicator. The only reason why there were no injuries yet was probably because Kihyun was actually holding the said ladder stoically with two hands.

"Good morning," greeted Hyungwon, who was busy cutting out snowflakes out of recycling bin paper. 

"Morning," responded Changkyun and sat down at his table. On it he found an odd festive bag that definitely wasn't there the day prior. "What's that?" he asked no one in particular, still hoping to get an answer.

"This," intercepted Minhyuk who was apparently everywhere at once, "is for today's party." He opened the bag and started producing various items, simultaneously explaining their purpose. 

"First we have these cards where you should write your ideas for charades. Give them back to me when you're finished. Next is the card that you need to sign for the person who's mentioned inside. All the names were randomly matched so even I don't know who you got," Minhyuk faked a saddened expression. "And finally," a flash of mischievous smile, "here's a pair of red tinsels for you and your boyfriend. I want to create as many couples as possible, so everyone who's happily taken already gets a red tinsel and all the singles out there, like Hyungwon, for example, got a green one." 

Changkyun felt his throat closing in. "And what about people who are not interested in finding anyone?"

Minhyuk rolled his eyes, as if the reminder of those buzzkills personally offended him. "That's white tinsel," he pointed at Hyunwoo, who was indeed wearing a silverish white garland around his neck. 

"I thought Showny was…" Changyun started quietly, catching himself too late. 

"What?" Minhyuk's eyes were lit by intense desire to know an exclusive rumor no one had before not just about anyone, but their calm and collected department leader who never gave Minhyuk any reason to speculate about his life.

"I thought he was open to the idea of dating," Changkyun said carefully, keeping his voice low.

"No," Minhyuk's fire behind his eyes had subsided. "He said that those matters don't interest him," he clicked his tongue disapprovingly. 

Changkyun slightly relaxed, feeling that the bullet had just barely missed him. He had to be careful of the information he possessed, especially around the walking chatterbox of a colleague. Speaking of the information…

The designer's office one door down was decorated as well, but with a rather wild set of props. Changkyun thought he somehow chose the wrong door because as he opened it he was greeted with a forest scenery right beside the entrance. 

He had no idea when the designers had time to spread fake snow on the ground and produce not one, not two, but three realistic looking artificial pine trees covered in more snow but he decided not to question it. The office behind the trees looked more normal, however, it was more tastefully decorated than their own, he noted with a hint of jealousy.

"Changkyun! Nice to see you here," greeted him Hoseok with a broad smile and an even broader hug. "Welcome to our snowy wonderland"

"I can see that you're aiming for the Best Decorated Office prize, huh"

"Of course we do," grinned Hoseok in response. "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you so early today?"

"Can we, uhh… talk somewhere more private?"

Hoseok furrowed his brows at the serious tone of his friend and followed him out of the office.

***  
"So, what happened?" his friend asked when they got to the break room which was surprisingly empty.

"Are you…" Changkyun hesitated on the best way to ask the question. "Are you and Hyunwoo going out as a couple today or just as colleagues?"

Hoseok sighed, the corner of his lips twitching. "As colleagues, I guess. He doesn't want to rush it just yet."

Changkyun sympathetically smiled. Hoseok and Hyunwoo had been going round in circles for more than a year, taking not even baby but ant steps. The only reason Changkyun knew that Hoseok was "seeing" someone was because he got too drunk one evening when they were out together with Jooheon and rambled about "a gorgeous tall strong and kind guy" for about two hours. 

It was slightly weird seeing Hyunwoo in person later as his supervisor at Changkyun's new job but it definitely made the interview… interesting. He didn't mention having heard of him beforehand, or even being friends with Hoseok, but the idea of knowing who kissed your team leader a few nights before was taking the edge of his nerves. 

"He gave me the key to his apartment," said Hoseok dreamily. At Changkyun's raised eyebrows he added, sadly "Because he's going away for winter holidays to his family and he needs me to water his plants"

"Buy him more plants and surprise him when he comes back"

"I wanted to say that I don't take advice from the least romantic person I know, but honestly I'm willing to try anything at this point"

"Hey, I can be romantic!" Changkyun gently pushed Hoseok on the shoulder.

"You are not," Hoseok laughed and then must've remembered something, abruptly stopping. "Wait, wait, but you're a taken man now, aren't you?"

"Who told you that?" Changkyun felt his body going into fight-or-flight mode.

"I heard a rumor going around"

"Minhyuk, then"

"It doesn't matter who," Hoseok crossed his arms. "But I'm genuinely offended that everyone else found out about it before me. I heard you gush over every waiter and waitress at the clubs when we go to Jooheon's performances, and yet you didn't tell me that you started dating someone."

"I'm sorry, hyung," and he really was, for lying to his friend's face. "I wanted to make sure it was serious."

Hoseok couldn't be mad at him for long and smiled reassuringly. "Okay, who is it?"

"Who's what?"

"Your boyfriend"

"How do you know it's a guy?"

Hoseok looked like he was extremely close to either throwing Changkyun out the window or leaving the room the same way himself. "I heard it was a guy"

"Oh, okay"

"So?"

"It'll be a surprise. You'll meet him later, he's coming to the party"

His friend took a deep breath. "You owe me a full story of your relationship later, just so you know"

"I know," said Changkyun and quickly hugged him before going out of the break room. 

***

Changkyun was nervously playing with the red tinsel in his hand, while he was waiting for Jooheon outside the office building. They agreed to meet there after Changkyun went home to change his clothes and Jooheon finished running errands in the studio. Him, Zico and Mino were recording a collaboration together which was all Jooheon was talking about the last few weeks. 

The wool sweater Changkyun opted to wear under the winter coat was itchy and for sure would make his skin irritated by the end of the night. Fortunately, he had another mental turmoil to go through that would keep him occupied enough to forget about the sweater. What a silver lining it was. 

Jooheon must've seen him from afar and planned his silent attack because in the next moment Changkyun jumped into the air from being tickled from behind. 

"Hyung! Stop it!" he put as much distance between then as possible to stop this torture only to be met with another punishment for himself. Jooheon was looking at him with a pair of make-up lined eyes, and what's worse, as Changkyun noticed when he lowered his gaze, he also wore ripped black jeans today. Who ever wore ripped jeans in the winter when it was this cold.. oh, right, _Jooheon did._

"What's this?" asked Jooheon, pointing at the tinsel in his hands. 

"Oh, that's uhh… your invitation to the party. I also have one," quickly added Changkyun, pulling down the collar of his coat. He put the red tinsel over Jooheon's neck and gestured for him to follow inside. 

Seeing their hallway and the big conference room lit only by garlands and electrical candles was a weird experience but very pleasant to the eyes. With no white overhead lighting, and mostly in the shadows, interrupted by small swaying stars of coloured light the space looked cozy and inviting. Changkyun noticed his colleagues going back and forth bringing the tasty-looking dishes from the break room and asked if they needed any help.

"No, no, we're almost finished," said Minhyuk with a lilt, immediately checking out the man standing behind Changkyun. "So this is the mysterious boyfriend," he whispered. 

"That's him," laughed Changkyun nervously and immediately pulled Jooheon further away from Minhyuk. 

They ended up in the writer's department which was only slightly quieter than the rest of the office.

"This is my workplace," mentioned Changkyun, gesturing over his desk. 

"Looks nice"

"I know that you hate it and just being polite"

"No, it really is nice. For an office, of course"

Changkyun smiled. "Well, we're not the ordinary office, we're 'setting the fashion trends of the future in the modern creative space'," he recited the quote from their website. 

Jooheon silently laughed and looked around. "The decorations are nice"

"They spent the whole morning putting those up. All thanks to Hyunwoo"

They exchanged the knowing glance and laughed out loud at the mention of their friend's love interest. Jooheon placed a bet that those two would figure it out by the end of the year but Changkyun suspected that Hoseok still wouldn't be able to change his profile status to "in a relationship" by the New Year. 

"Is Hoseok here?"

"He should be, yeah," Changkyun answered, fixing the tinsel on his neck. "But maybe he's busy now," he added, suddenly remembering that Hoseok wasn't aware that Jooheon would come. 

"Attention everyone," Minhyuk's voice, amplified by the microphone, was heard from a different room. "You have ten more minutes to gather round, kiss your partners under the mistletoes and get a handful of the delicious snacks in the conference room and then we officially begin our New Year's party," he said, truly in his entertaining element. "And don't forget to look out for hot singles wearing green tinsels."

 _Fuck_ , thought Changkyun.

"Wait, what?" Jooheon looked at his own tinsel curiously. "I thought the colors were random"

Changyun was on the verge of combusting or being swallowed by the ground – even despite the fact that they were on the 7th floor. "I think Minhyuk meant himself," he laughed, hoping he sounded natural.

"I like this guy already," Jooheon headed out towards the conference room, both hands pulling Changkyun behind him, unaware that his friend was internally screaming at the idea of liking Lee Minhyuk, the cause of 99 of his problems.


	3. - III -

The last thing Changkyun expected from the evening was seeing and hearing Minhyuk sing Korean covers of popular western Christmas songs that still had English choruses for some reason. Somehow it didn't seem out of place and, thankfully, he had a really nice voice. 

As Minhyuk was singing on a makeshift stage of their big conference room, everyone else was either munching on various snacks near the table or standing in the semblance of a semicircle, chatting or clapping. Changkyun was in the latter crowd, shoving shrimp dumplings in his mouth to calm down. He offered every other one to Jooheon who was standing nearby and happily accepting the offered food. 

"Look, Hoseok's over there," said Jooheon around a mouthful of food, waving back at his friend on the other side of the room. Changkyun waved as well, catching a confused expression on Hoseok's face. "I'm gonna go say hi"

Changkyun was about to catch Jooheon by the hand and glue him to his side so that his friend wouldn't interact with anyone but that would only raise suspicion so he had no choice but to get himself involved into damage control. "Let's go together"

"Ah," gladly exclaimed Hoseok, enveloping Jooheon in his bear hug. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"It was a last minute decision," interfered Changkyun, nervously sipping lemonade from the cup. 

"Oh, this is why you're wearing Changkyun's boyfriend's tinsel, I see," mentioned Hoseok, pointing at the red garland on his friend's neck.

"His what?" asked Jooheon, confused. 

Changkyun's brain went from 0 to 100 in a matter of microseconds, trying to come up with an excuse, or anything, really.

"Yeah, he couldn't make it," he said sheepishly.

"You have a boyfriend?" Jooheon was slightly taken aback, showing a surprised and for some reason disappointed look on his face.

"So he hasn't told you either, huh," Hoseok looked at him with a joking accusation. "Who is this mysterious boyfriend of yours no one knows about?"

He was saved by the start of the charades competition. Changkyun jumped on the opportunity to get out of the most embarrassing situation of his life and all but ran to get into the charades team.

***

When the game ended – with their team of writers winning – Changkyun looked around for his friends and noticed that they were nowhere to be found, to his horror. But, he thought hopefully, if I can't find both of them that means that they are somewhere together, and that wasn't that scary. 

After all, Hoseok still didn't know that Jooheon was supposed to be his pretend boyfriend for the evening and the more time they spent together, the less time Jooheon was around his other colleagues. Around one colleague, to be precise. 

He sat on one of the spare chairs, quenching his thirst with lemonade after the particularly hard round of charades where he had to show a Santa's reindeer galloping around. The song changed and he immediately smiled after recognising the first chords of "All I Want for Christmas is You". Changkyun absolutely loved it.

Singing quietly to himself, he absentmindedly watched his colleagues dancing, drinking, eating, laughing and generally having a nice time. 

"Would you look at that, a mistletoe!" exclaimed Minhyuk, proceeding to firmly nudge Kihyun under the hanging decoration. 

"Stop it," warned Kihyun without actually meaning the words, obviously smiling.

"You know the rules, there's just nothing I can do."

"Sure," said Kihyun, rolling his eyes. He pulled Minhyuk closer, tugging on his sweater, and placed such a sweet and gentle kiss on his cheek that Changkyun had to look away because it felt too much like he was intruding on something very intimate.

As they pulled apart Changkyun noticed that Minhyuk's cheeks were the color of half the decorations in the room and he himself was unusually quiet and shy. He wanted to bet those two were going home together today and was just about to text Jooheon when the man himself appeared alongside Hoseok in the doorway.

"You okay?" asked Jooheon, radiating cold air from the outside. "I brought you glintwein"

"Thanks," Changkyun smiled, accepting the cup. He met Hoseok's eyes who looked like his normal joyful self and it filled Changkyun with a little confidence that everything was going okay and no disasters had occurred, just yet. 

"How were the charades?"

"We won"

"Ah, I knew you would," said Jooheon, ruffling his hair. Changkyun pretended to be annoyed to have his haircut ruined but he could never be truly mad at him. 

"Gather round, gather round," announced Minhyuk suddenly. "This is a special game for all of our couples here today. There's not a lot of you so this will be fun! Alright, everyone with your partners present here, come closer!"

"Should we join?" suddenly asked Jooheon. "I'm taking your boyfriend's place after all"

"We don't have to do this," blurted out Changkyun.

"Come on, it's gonna be fun," smiled Jooheon and headed to the epicentre of the disaster.

Changkyun thought about every curse word he was going to write in Minhyuk's card (because of course he had to get him, even at random), silently praying the contest wasn't something too obscene. 

"I'm sure you've all heard of the Pepero game," said Minhyuk in his stage voice and Changkyun's heart sank. "Well, we're not playing Pepero today," a sigh of relief. "We have to make it festive so instead we're using candy cones."

Changkyun solemnly accepted his death. 

"Alright, let's see, we have two, three… four couples in total! Remember that this is not about speed, you can take your time," Minhyuk smiled, mischief in his voice, "but you have to have the smallest bite of candy cone left!"

As he was listening to the host and trying to burn him with his stare, Changkyun didn't notice how close Jooheon was standing next to him. Only when he felt a tug on his shoulders, turning him to face his friend, he realized they were almost nose to nose, only a candy cone in Jooheon's mouth separating them. 

And it was about to get shorter. 

"Ready? One, two… three!"

It happened in slow motion and yet somehow on double speed at the same time. Jooheon started vigorously eating his end of the candy cone, while Changkyun was catching up to with everything, two warm hands, one holding his shoulder and the other stabilizing his neck, Jooheon's perfume suddenly hitting his nose and the fact that they were only about ten centimeters away from each other. 

With the back of his mind he registered loud cheering around them, and before he could properly react to Jooheon's lips quickly brushing his, his friend was leaning away holding a small remaining piece of candy.

"Alright, the last couple is done, let's compare the results"

Their piece ended up being second-smallest among the four pairs, but Changkyun honestly couldn't care less. His heart was about to burst out of his chest and he was certain everyone, especially Jooheon who had his arm around him, could hear that. 

"Oh, so close, guys," Minhyuk said reassuringly. "But hey, at least you can have a consolation kiss," and with that he pointed above Changkyun and Jooheon. 

And there it was. 

A fucking mistletoe.

It must've been the last nail in the coffin of Changkyun's nervous system since he didn't even feel anything this time, no panic, no fear. His mind had white static noise going on.

He distantly registered Jooheon laughing sheepishly, looking at him, and then leaning closer to place a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth. Changkyun wished he would have reacted to this adequately. Or reacted at all. The reality was so bizarre and surreal the last five minutes that he was certain he just hallucinated it. It could've been glintwein.

Minhyuk exclaimed that after a five minutes break he was going to announce the winners of the Best Decorated Office competition and Changyun took this opportunity to get out of the conference room. 

He needed to breathe and he also needed to erase this evening from his memory or from existence in general. It wasn't good for his psyche to suddenly be so close to Jooheon and even for a second allow himself to fall for his friend even more. 

At once he realized what a terrible idea it was. He should've said he didn't have a boyfriend. Or he should've asked _literally anyone else_. 

Once again, he was the sole reason of his own problems, he thought, bursting into the break room. Two figures quickly jumped away from each other at the sudden interruption, clearly caught making out against the sink. 

Changkyun was about to apologize when he raised his eyes and realized who was standing before him.

"Hoseok-hyung?"

His stare darted between Hoseok who was still licking his lips, looking something between smug and annoyed, and Hyunwoo, calm as ever, only with an absolute mess of hair on his head.

"I'm… sorry. I'll go," he quickly retreated out of the break room, leaving the two men alone, only to be met by Jooheon in the hallway.

"Hey, why did you run away?"

Changkyun took a shaky breath and lowered his eyes. His muscles and bones ached with tiredness of everything happening around him, as well as the amount of physical activities he participated during the evening. 

He wanted to go home. He wanted to get into his bead and pull the covers high enough to cover his head. Maybe he would suffocate but that would be a small price to pay for peace. 

He wanted to stop lying to everyone around him. The web of lies and pretence spun so tightly around him that he started feeling like a fly. And yet, the sole source of his lies was himself. Trying to kill too many birds with too few stones in his possession he realized he was out of his depth completely. This has gone way too far.

"I'm sorry, hyung. You shouldn't have gone after me"

"Are you feeling okay?" Jooheon sounded genuinely worried, coming closer to check up on him, but it was the furthest thing he needed right now, so he took a step back. 

"Yes, just…" he hesitated. "I felt overwhelmed for a second. I wanted to go out."

"I hope you'll feel better," said Jooheon, taking another step to hug him but stopping halfway, seeing the reaction on Changkyun's face.

They returned to the conference room right as Hoseok was getting the prize for the Best Decorated Office and saying his speech.

"... and of course I want to thank the whole team of designers, whose efforts made it possible," he was fake-crying, wiping non-existent tears with one hand and holding the gilt trophy in the other. 

The crowd laughed and cheered for him – the designers cheering the loudest – and then the music resumed. 

"Changkyunnie, where did you go, I missed seeing your face!" Minhyuk materialized next to him out of nowhere, visibly tipsy which apparently made him very handsy. 

Changkyun untangled his hands from around his neck and smiled politely. "I think Kihyun was looking for you."

"Was he?" Minhyuk quickly turned his head in all directions. "I must find him. He shouldn't be left alone, my sweet child!"

Somehow it worked and Minhyuk really did disappear, so at least Changkyun found one way of getting rid of him. 

"Congrats on the win," smiled Changkyun, approaching Hoseok.  
"Thanks! It was a collaborative effort"

Changkyun quickly decided that in order to get out of his head and relationship troubles he needed to speculate about someone else. "It's a good thing you had time to get back from the break room"

Hoseok shushed him, looking panicked. "Can you at least speak quieter?"

"Why, what's happening?" joined Jooheon.

"Nothing," blurted out Hoseok, not meeting any of their stares.

"I saw Hoseok-hyung kissing a certain someone"

"Really?" happily exclaimed Jooheon.

"No, it's not like that," Hoseok tried to play it cool but there was an apparent smile on his face.

Changkyun took off the red tinsel from his neck and placed it on Hoseok. "This is for you"

"And this is for Hyunwoo," Jooheon hung his one onto his friend's hand. 

Hoseok didn't say anything, rolling his eyes, however, his face beamed with poorly concealed joy. "I'm gonna go talk to him"

Just as they were left alone, the song suddenly changed prompting everyone to find a partner for a slow dance. 

"Shall we?" Jooheon outstretched his hand in an invitation. 

The evening was weird enough already, Changkyun thought. A slow dance with your best friend who kissed you just before that probably wasn't going to make it even weirder. He didn't feel like recoiling as he did before in the hallway, so he agreed.

As they swayed to the song, Jooheon cleared his throat, carefully starting a conversation. 

"You haven't been yourself the whole evening. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, of course not." Changkyun assured him quickly. He would hate himself if he made Jooheon anxious with his actions. "It's all on me"

"What do you mean?"

He sounded so earnest and open, honestly trying to be a good friend and fix things he didn't even know about. Changkyun felt he owed him an explanation, unable to drag this out any longer.

"Do you promise not to be mad at me?"

"Sure," Jooheon said, confidently.

Changkyun sighed. "Everyone thinks you're my boyfriend."

"What?" 

He didn't sound offended, mostly just surprised.

"I'm sorry, it was a mistake. Minhyuk saw our photo together and he thought that we were dating and I wanted to tell him that we're not but he was suddenly congratulating me and…"

"Okay, okay, I got it," Jooheon smiled. "It's okay."

"You're not mad?" asked Changkyun with a hopeful smile in return.

"Of course not. I think a lot of people think that we're actually dating. Zico has once asked me for advice on what to get his girlfriend for her birthday," he furrowed his brows at the memory, "That was a weird day."

Changkyun laughed, slightly less worried. 

"And would it even really change much if we started dating?" Jooheon asked, suddenly not meeting his eyes. Changkyun's brain was having a hard time processing the question.

"Are you asking me out?" he asked, dumbfoundedly. 

"Only if you want to. I'm not saying you should, but..." he paused, both speaking and dancing. "I feel like what we have is special, and it's more than just being friends. I'm not asking you to be my boyfriend or partner, or whatever you want to call it straight away, I just know that… I want to be with you. Would you want to be with me?"

Changkyun was silent for a moment, mentally going through every possible answer he could give. They ranged from _This is the single thing I wanted for the past year_ to _Holy fucking shit, am I dreaming? Is this a dream? Please no one wake me up._

Instead he smiled and said "Sure."

Jooheon smiled back, bright as a sun. "Do you want to go home?"

"Yes, please, I'm exhausted," exhaled Changkyun. "But first," he perked up, remembering a card in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked around, searching for a pen. "I'll be right back, wait for me in the hallway, okay?" 

Jooheon nodded, slightly confused, a small smile still remaining on his face. 

Changkyun almost ran into the writer's department, quickly snatching a pen from Hyungwon's desk since it was the closest. 

He opened the card and carefully wrote "Thank you. And I really mean it. Happy New Year. P.S. Kihyun will kill me for saying this but you two look cute together." He closed it and placed the card on Minhyuk's desk.

When he got out of the office, Jooheon was already waiting for him, immediately taking his hand and leading them into the elevator to go home.


End file.
